High-Quality 3-Button Mouse For X? 35
An Anonymous Coward whispered the following question into my ear last night: "Does anyone know a good-quality, high-resolution three-button mouse that works nicely in X? I'm talking about just three buttons and no 'Internet' gizmos."
Re:Mouseman! Who remembers the Mouseman? (Score:1)
Logitech now sells the same mouse as a gaming mouse. It's gray but looks and works the same. In fact I bought 2 more. One for work and the other an extra for home.
go to the logitech site and check under gaming.
narbey
Genius Netmouse Pro (Score:1)
MouseSystems optical of course (Score:1)
Unfortunately you can't buy them in stores but you can order direct from MouseSystems. At least I did before... looks like the website is kindof hosed right now though. Lousy marketing, great mouse.
Re:Trackballs? (Score:1)
Re:Trackballs? (Score:1)
My favorite pointing device of all time is the Kensington TurboMouse [kensington.com] trackball. Four physical buttons, one chord. I bought it for my Mac clone, and the software it came with allowed me to do all sorts of amazing things. Program a button to save bookmarks in Netscape? Sure. Avoid Apple's control-click workaround for having one-button mice? Sure. Build a whole menu of things accessible with the click of a button? That, too.
Now that I'm running Debian, I don't get all those wonderful features (although I suppose I could if I bothered). But I still have a three-button trackball that's large enough to use with the palm of my hand or with several fingers instead of a single fingertip, and has the potential to do even more.
The TurboMouse equivalent for the PC is the ExpertMouse [kensington.com], which looks to be exactly the same trackball I have (except for the wiring). Newer solutions include the TurboBall [kensington.com] (four buttons, large ball, and a mouse wheel), which I might consider as a replacement for my TurboMouse if I ever buy a newer machine; and the Orbit [kensington.com], which only seems to have two buttons, but still has a large ball.
Re:Trackballs? (Score:1)
Note that this has been my experience, and I in no way suggest that it is for everyone!
I have had tendonitis since I was 12 becaues of computing, and this is the only pointing device I can comfortably use.
I have tride the Cirque glidepoint, and an unending number of "ergonomic" and other mice.
Pointing and clicking/dragging etc, simultaneously (with your hand it lesat!) is deceptively easy, I tend to put the thing in leftie mode even though I use my right hand, simply because it feels bore comfortable and doesnt hurt as much. I also lay my hand at roughly 30degrees off the main axis (the longest length of the trackball), rather than perfectly inline with its length... This also seems more comfortable to me
Again, the key is always, like any good doctor will advocate: take breaks!
Human interfaces for computers are decidedly torturous and unnatural and not, despite excess marketing hype, ergonomic. Taking regular, or even irregular, breaks and sretching is the one true path to pain free computing.
Also, the Trackman Marble FX has at lesat 3 buttons (4 if you can get it to recognize it in Linux, I havent tried).
Good luck!!
An old sig
a bit drops in
kensington lifetime mouse (Score:1)
About two years ago I found a Kensington 'lifetime' mouse that uses two wheels on the bottom instead of a mouse ball, so you never have to clean it (hence the "lifetime" moniker) I'm really happy with it, and it came with an assortment of replacement button panels, one of which was a three button one so it works great in X.
I hope they still make this mouse; I highly recommend it.
SGI/HP Mice (Score:1)
Re:Trackballs? (Score:1)
It takes some getting used to but it works real well, especially for games. The 3 buttons near the thumb make for some nice binding in most games.
I have trackman's on all my computers both unix and windows, they work real nice. In X it sees it as a 3 button mouse no problem.
Re:Trackballs? (Score:1)
They have some other marbles that are fnkier shaped and have five or six buttons, but they weren't as comfortable for my hands (everybody is different).
Re:Trackballs? (Score:1)
Re:Wheel mice (Score:1)
In Netscape, I usually would rather have a third button than a scroll wheel. I like Open In New Window from one click more than I need the scroll wheel (I have an arrow key that does the same thing). For CAD apps, there's no substitute for a third button, and there's little/no use for a wheel.
Remapping the wheel click to the third button is alright, but is far more clumsy than a real mouse button.
As stated in another post, my personal fav is the Logitec Trackman Marble (w/ no wheel - it is now sold with a wheel). Trackballs are also rather nice on the wrist (much less strain than a mouse), and are amazingly useful for FPS games - better in my experience, though they take some getting used to...
Mouseman! Fsckin' A, man! (info!) (Score:1)
$500 -- five bucks each! Or, you can buy the common comsumer-grade make-it-black- so-it's-cooler MouseMans for $16 each, or you can buy the WingMan (make it graphite-grey, and the put-racing-stripes-on-it!-quality) for $40.
Who wants a mouseman? If we get a pool (of ~70 commitments) -- I'll buy and sell 'em at cost.
Re:Mouseman! Who remembers the Mouseman? (Score:1)
And they DO still exist. I have a serial one sitting on my AMD K5 linux box right now
But it's a cool graphite color.
The Intellimouse Explorer is wonderful. Extremely comfortable, works on almost anything, and damn, the thumb buttons (default to forward & back in IE/nutscrape) are like crack - once you use them, you can't stop.
I agree with all those that say MS should stick to hardware. I have an "MS desktop": a Natural Elite KB and Imouse Explorer. very comfy and useable.
Microsoft Intellimouse (Score:1)
Chris Hagar
Logitech FirstMouse (Score:1)
So... that's what I'd reccommend. I went for price in this case (My Linux machine is just my little experimentation machine for right now).
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Re:I feel dirty recommending it... (Score:1)
Perplexing (Score:1)
4d (three buttons, two wheels) mouse (Score:1)
cost $20 at CompUSA, seems to be generic in manufacture, but mine happens to say "MICRO innovations": on it. works great so far.
Moreover... (Score:1)
Microsoft (!) and Logitech sell very nice, quite cheap wheel mouses. Very ergonomical and pleasant design.
Please don't tell me "but it's made by Microsoft". Yes it is. And ?
Stéphane
Re:Wheel mice (Score:1)
I love the unix middle button for openeing in a new page, but realise that the wheel can cause trouble.
But I have been using a MS Intelli Mouse for some time now, and find it adequate as a 3 button mouse.
So there.
But believe me... the wheel does come in useful (even for an old school vt100 - vi person like myself)
Dom.
Mouseman! Who remembers the Mouseman? (Score:1)
I'm currently using an old school Logitech Mouseman.
This thing is great. It's movement is smooth, it's ergonomically shaped, has three buttons, and is the largest mouse I've held, with the exception of some Microsoft mice (though none of these is quite large enough for my mitts).
The only thing that could get me to switch might be the Intellimouse Explorer, but I haven't had a chance to use one yet, so I can't even say that much for sure.
I am wondering why no one has mentioned the old-style Mouseman so far, especially considering how popular it was. Oh, yeah! It's because Logitech stopped making their best-selling retail line! Smooth move, Logitech!
Logitech!! Why have you forsaken me??
J. T. MacLeod
thumb button (Score:1)
Re:i like logitech (Score:1)
A friend of mine swore by this trackball [logitech.com] but I could never get comfortable with it.
While I don't much care for mice, I've used logitech mice on campus and their ergonomic mice are certainly better than average.
Whatever you decide upon, get a mouse or a trackball that is comfortable. Ergonomic works for me but some people don't like it. Remember, though, that you will be using your pointing device a lot. It just isn't worth your while to save a couple of bucks if your wrists are going to complain.
USE A WHEEL MOUSE BIATCH!!!! (Score:1)
PS IF YOU NEED HELP WITH WRITING WHEEL MOUSE DRIVERS PLEASE EMAIL ME BECAUSE I AM A KEWL H4XOR!!!!!!~!!!!!!!!!!
I feel dirty recommending it... (Score:2)
Anyway, it kicks the crap out of my old mice, but, at $65, you might not think it's worth the price.
- A.P.
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"One World, one Web, one Program" - Microsoft promotional ad
Hell, just buy and I2. (Score:2)
The granite mouse goes well with the granite keyboard and monitor, too. . .
- A.P.
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"One World, one Web, one Program" - Microsoft promotional ad
Trackballs? (Score:2)
I know one person who said he put a track ball on the floor, and used is feet to point. I'd like to try it, but most of the old style track balls I've seen are two buttons, and I don't think I could press a button and move the ball at the the same time. (This being a physical problem with the location of the buttons, not a comment on my [poor] coordination)
Wheel mice (Score:2)
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A "freaking free-loading Canadian" stealing jobs from good honest hard working Americans since 1997.
Microsoft Intelli-eye (Score:2)
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Re:i like logitech (Score:2)
Re:Perplexing (Score:2)
Re:i like logitech (Score:2)
Re:Trackballs? (Score:2)
Two buttons on the top near the trackball, and one "trigger-style" for your index finger. The trackball (and top buttons) are controlled with your thumb.
It doesn't seem like a good trackball for use at the desktop level, since you have to "fit" your hand around it. However, it seems perfect as a navigation tool for a virtual environment (may be good for Quake, too!). I bought one of these for just that purpose (VE nav, not Quake)...
i like logitech (Score:2)
i use one because the button activation pressure is low enough that i can use it all day without any rsi problems. button pressure is why i don't like wheel-mice. of course the best solution is a sun mouse but you have to buy an adaptor box which makes it a bit pricey.